'ANYWHERE BUT THE U.S.': Tariffs, sovereignty threat, low Canuck dollar affecting travel south
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When it comes to fight or flight reactions, it appears them’s fightin’ words, Donald.
Turns out U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade beef with Canada, combined with his not-so-funny comments about making his northern neighbour the 51st state and a low Canadian dollar, is having an impact on the decisions Canadian travellers are making about whether to travel down south.
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Amra Durakovic, Head of Communications for Flight Centre Canada, says Trump’s threats of placing a tariff on Canadian goods entering America is being raised repeatedly when it comes to Canadians changing their travel plans to the U.S., with European destinations coming out as a top alternative.
“Definitely since Feb. 1, we have absolutely seen a decline and a softening in bookings to the U.S. and that’s straight across leisure, corporate and event travel segments” said Durakovic.
“Business travellers, specifically, as well as the event travel, that’s a new softening that we’ve seen that is directly because of the U.S. administration’s tariffs. So I think you couple that with the weak Canadian dollar, hence, why they’re not travelling to the U.S.”
As for leisure travellers, it seems even more personal says Durakovic.
“I have been speaking with customers, they are definitely feeling, not just emotional about the administration’s tariffs, but there’s now the whole threat against Canada’s sovereignty which has been brought up a lot,” she said.
“What I’m hearing is the word trust being used a lot, as in the trust is broken for them. So since November, I would say, from when the dollar fell to it’s lowest in four years, that’s when first started noticing less bookings to the U.S. But now, yes indeed, people are cancelling and they are coming in right now and saying, ‘Anywhere but the U.S.’”
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WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said Thursday in Calgary at a new repair and testing facility announcement that Canadians’ interest in flights to the U.S. are about 25% down since the tariff threats began two weeks ago.
“What we have seen though, since the tariff announcements, is that our sales from Canada into the U.S. have actually dropped very significantly,” von Hoensbroech told CTV News.
He added the exchange rate likely has something do with the falling demand as well.
“I think that a trade war is the very last thing this country, this continent, this world needs,” he said. “But we will always adjust to what’s happening and take it from there.”
Air Canada also said Friday that it may redeploy some U.S. flights if Canadians increasingly avoid our southern neighbour in 2025.
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Still, Mark Galardo, Air Canada’s executive vice president of revenue and network planning, said that hasn’t yet been the case.
“We are anticipating proactively that there could be a slowdown,” Galardo said on a conference call on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings.
“In the U.S., we don’t see any major slowdown or anything substantial that would change our view of the market. That being said, if we could de-risk this a little bit and be a bit proactive and move capacity into other sectors we see strength in, I think that’s the right move.”
Galardo said leisure destinations such as Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona could be affected.
A new Leger poll this week said nearly half — 48% — of Canadians say they’re less likely to visit the U.S. this year versus 2024, nearly double the 29% of Canadians who said the same thing in a Narrative poll taken in mid-January.
The poll found that Ontario residents (52%) are the ones most likely to avoid travelling to the U.S., with older Canadians (55+) the most likely to reduce U.S. travel (52% vs. 46% among 35-54 and 41% among 18-34).
— with files from The Canadian Press.
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